ELLISVILLE – The #3 Northwest Mississippi Community College football team had a rough first half against Jones College on Thursday night, but a bounce back led by the passing attack and several key defensive and special teams plays helped to keep it a game against the Bobcats at Sim Cooley Field before coming away with an improbable 38-35 win to open the 2026 season.
"We were just rusty," Offensive Coordinator Stan Hill said after the win. "At halftime, everybody was on the same page with the little mistakes and not playing our brand of football, and we got it together. We got some leadership, and they came out and made plays, and we got a dub."
The win was keyed by an amazing performance from sophomore receiver TyAnthony Elmore, who set a new single-game mark with 15 receptions, going for 243 yards and a touchdown.
Northwest also saw the turnaround triggered by the defense, which had a pair of interceptions from Jovarious Lundy and Chase Meeking, and only allowed one second-half touchdown to the Bobcats.
The opening drives for both teams ended up stalling out; the Jones offense would drive down the field for a three-minute drive to put themselves up 7-0.
Northwest answered back with a drive of their own, keyed by several completions by Neko Fann, to move into Bobcat territory for the first time. They would move inside of the ten, but after three tries, they were forced to settle for a field goal, which missed wide right to keep it a full-possession lead for Jones.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, the first half was full of more of the same from the offensive side. Strong plays followed by some miscues that would stall out drives near midfield.
On the other side, Jones College got the offense going thanks to the play of Tyree Barnett and CJ Rush, who combined for over 140 yards in the first half, with Rush picking up three touchdowns.
Down 21-0, Northwest finally broke through on an 11-play drive, going 67 yards and finishing with a Macaleb Taylor touchdown as the freshman closed the gap to 14 after Will Uselton's point-after.
Jones answered back quickly, though, returning the next kickoff across midfield and going three plays before capitalizing on a 28-yard touchdown from Rush, pushing back to a 21-point lead with just over six minutes remaining.
The Rangers did threaten again in their final offensive possession of the half, but a pass on fourth and goal intended for TyAnthony Elmore was batted away, and the score remained 28-7 going into the half.
Elmore said the locker room was focused on rallying in the break, and there was never a doubt they were still in the game if they could clean up their miscues.
"Coach told us to keep aggressive. We go hard every day at practice, so we know that even though they wanted to write us off after the first half, we know we were going to come back in the game and that's what we did."
A new push from Northwest gave some life to the Rangers offense on the opening two possessions of the second half.
Despite it ending without points, the opening drive made it to the six-yard line of the Bobcats before an interception would halt the momentum, and after a three-and-out from Jones, Northwest again pushed into the red zone.
The big downside on the drive was the injury to Fann, who was replaced by redshirt freshman transfer Noah Gillon, He would find Elmore in the corner of the end zone to close the gap back to 28-14 thanks to a 15-yard completion.
The pass also put Elmore over 100 yards for the first time in his career.
Jones kept the pressure on, taking the ball the length of the field on their next possession to go back up 35-14 with 3:43 on the fourth rushing touchdown of the game by Rush.
Gillon went right back to work and kept up his mojo with the Ranger receiving corps, finding Elmore again for a 55-yard gain before finding freshman Dagarrious Clifton for a 10-yard touchdown grab, closing the gap back to a 14-point game.
The defense then stepped up into a big moment themselves, shutting down a drive from the Bobcats with a Lundy interception at midfield to set up a potential scoring drive to close it to a one-possession game.
"The defense played their tail off," Hill said. "Coach Anders put them in a good situation all night, and they finally started to settle in in the second half. The defense kept us in this game."
"We know Lundy," Elmore said. "He's a ball player, and we go at it every day in practice, and I told him right before that play it's coming, and he came up and made the big, momentum shifted, we got the ball, and we scored."
Taylor finished off the drive for Northwest with a one-yard dive into the end zone to close it to a 35-28 game with less than 10 minutes to play, and an onside kick surprised the Bobcats right after to give the Rangers another chance at points.
While the drive didn't get any traction and resulted in a punt, it did flip the field and pin the Bobcats inside their own 20 again.
After forcing a punt, lightning struck for the Rangers again, this time in the form of a punt return. Clydarrien Peters went 55 yards to the house to tie the game at 35 with just 5:33 to play.
Jones was rattled by this point, and on the next drive tried for a deep ball, but Meeking was lying in wait, pouncing on the chance with his second interception of the game to give the Rangers a chance to take the lead in the final five minutes.
Northwest brought the ball inside the 30 before the Bobcats were able to stall the drive out on a fourth-and-three, and a Uselton field goal attempt of 41 yards was wide left to leave the game tied at 35 all.
There wasn't much time on the clock, and with less than two minutes to play, Jones wouldn't risk too much and would end up punting the ball with 1:16 remaining.
Elmore would take over himself on the final drive of regulation for NWCC, pulling in his 14th and 15th receptions of the game to set up the Rangers at midfield, and a penalty would be called for roughing the passer against Jones to push Northwest to the 15-yard line with 20 seconds left in the game.
"TyAnthony is a freak," Hill said. "I wish we had him last year. His best football is in front of him. A playmaker and I can't say enough about him. This is a guy who played DB for us last year and within two weeks knew the whole offense and his leadership is unbelievable."
The game would come down to a third field goal attempt from Uselton, this one from 28 yards for the win, and the freshman from Hernando would drill the kick to give the Rangers the improbable victory on the road to kick off the season.
"He told me after he missed the one before that, we were going to get it back," Elmore said. "And he clutched up and hit the game-winning field goal. I didn't doubt Will one time. I told him he got what he asked for, so he had to go out and do it, and he did it."
Gillon was the top passer for the Rangers on the night, going 15-of-20 for 197 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He replaced the injured Fann, who finished the night 19-of-37 for 156 yards.
The top target was Elmore, but eight total Rangers made a reception in the game, with touchdowns from Elmore and Clifton.
In the rushing attack, the Rangers were led by Macaleb Taylor, who carried the ball 17 times for 56 yards against a stingy Bobcat defense, capitalizing on a pair of red zone carries for two scores. Fann was the second-leading rusher, carrying it five times for 29 yards.
While Northwest was outgained in the rushing attack as a team 104 to 124, their passing attack in the second half was the difference, outgaining the Bobcats 353 to 209.
The defense for the Rangers saw almost everyone contribute to their side of the ball. University of Kentucky transfer Kris Thompson led the team with nine tackles, with sophomore Jamarcus Flowers picking up eight, including six solo.
The special teams also played a key role, recovering an onside kick, and Uselton averaged 40.8 yards per punt on the night with a long of 49.
"It's JUCO for you," Hill said. "You got a whole new team, and they are trying to find themselves, and you have to take it week to week. Jones is an outstanding opponent, and so is Mississippi Gulf Coast, and we just have to take next week, get back in the lab, start work, and try to go 2-0."
Northwest will be back at home for that contest, with kickoff against Gulf Coast scheduled for 7:00 PM at Bobby Franklin Field. The game will be streamed on Ranger TV, with the pregame show beginning at 6:30 PM with Tyler Springs and Russell Copeland on the call.
Keep up with Northwest football and all athletics by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
